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AUG  2 6 1915 


SPEECH 

MADE  BY 


Hon.  JOHN  PURROY  MITCHEL 

Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York 


AT  THE  DINNER  OF  THE 

COMMITTEE  OF  107 

AT  THE  ALDINE  CLUB 


Monday,  April  12,  1915 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/speechmadebyhonjOOmitc 


REMOTE  STORAGE 
B00K3TACKS  OFFICE 

Speech  made  by  Hon.  John  Purroy 
Mitchel,  Mayor  of  The  City  of  New 
York,  at  the  dinner  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  107  at  the  Aidine  Club, 
Monday,  April  12,  1915. 

Fifteen  months  ago  the  administration  elected 
upon  the  city  ticket  put  in  nomination  by  your 
committee  assumed  the  reins  of  government  in  this 
city.  The  citizen  movement  of  which  your  com- 
mittee was  the  expression  was  unique.  It  was 
predicated  upon  the  theory  that  the  people  of  New 
York  were  so  disgusted  with  corrupt,  machine-con- 
trolled,  extravagant  and  inefficient  government  in 
state  and  city  in  the  past,  that  the  force  of  their 
opinion  would  compel  all  those  parties  opposed  to 
autocratic  boss  government  to  accept  a citizens’ 
ticket  nominated  by  a representative  committee, 
irrespective  and  in  spite  of  immediate  partisan  in- 
terests and  desires.  The  result  established  the 
soundness  of  the  theory. 

Not  one  of  the  parties  contributory  to  the  Fusion 
movement  of  1913  would  have  nominated  the  ticket 
which  your  committee  put  in  the  field  had  it  been 
left  to  its  own  initiative.  I doubt  if  any  one  of 
the  parties  would  have  nominated  at  the  utmost 
more  than  one  or  two  of  those  candidates.  No  two 
parties  would  have  nominated  any  one  of  them.  The 
fusion  was  a genuine  citizen  movement  pressed 
upon  the  parties  by  the  force  of  public  opinion  and 
the  ticket  was  selected  by  the  general  citizenship 
through  a representative  committee  and  not  by  the 
parties. 

It  follows  that  the  present  city  administration 
through  its  fifteen  months  of  life  lias  had  to  look 
for  its  support  not  to  any  party  or  parties,  but  to 


3 


the  citizenship  of  the  city.  It  must  look  only  to 
the  same  source  for  support  for  the  remainder  of 
its  term.  This  administration  is  without  a part}7. 
It  is  responsible  to  no  party,  and  no  party  feels 
responsible  for  it. 

Theory  of  Fusion. 

There  are  two  theories  on  which  a fusion  may 
be  based,  the  non-partisan  and  the  multi-partisan. 
The  multi-partisan  theory  contemplates  a par- 
celing out  of  patronage  to  the  parties  in 
proportion  to  the  value  of  their  support. 
The  non-partisan  theory  demands  fitness,  quali- 
fications and  experience  first  and  a recogni- 
tion of  party  service  only  when  the  party 
can  produce  candidates  who  conform  to  the  highest 
standards  of  efficient  government.  This  difference 
is  what  distinguishes  the  mere  temporary  federa- 
tion of  political  elements  effected  for  the  capturing 
of  a number  of  public  offices,  from  a genuine  citi- 
zens movement  inspired  by  a determination  to  im- 
prove the  character  and  standards  of  government. 
The  interests  of  the  citizenship  in  city  affairs  are 
often  opposed  to  the  interests  of  party,  and  an  ad- 
ministration which  is  pledged  to  observe  only  the 
former  must  often  find  itself  compelled  to  disre- 
gard the  latter. 

It  is  inevitable  that,  following  such  a movement 
as  that  of  1913,  there  should  develop  among  the 
parties  considerable  discontent  and  irritation 
when  the  demands  for  recognition  which  they  re- 
gard as  fair  are  disregarded  by  the  administration 
in  fulfillment  of  its  first  duty  to  the  citizenship  to 
provide  the  most  efficient  service  that  it  can  pro- 
cure. Furthermore,  the  natural  selfishness  of 
men  leads  each  party  to  request  far  more  than  its 
fair  share  even  upon  the  theory  of  a distribution  of 
patronage  based  on  service,  and  so  each  party 
feels  aggrieved  and  badly  used  when  the  list  of  ap- 
pointments has  been  completed. 


4 


Direct  Responsibility. 

The  present  administration  recognizes  its  direct 
responsibility  to  the  citizenship.  It  has  sought  to 
deal  equitably  with  the  parties  under  the  prin- 
ciple that  I have  laid  down,  but  it  is  not  responsible 
to  them  nor  they  for  it.  Its  accounting  will  not  be 
to  them,  but  to  the  people  of  the  city,  and  after  the 
first  fifteen  months  of  its  life  it  welcomes  the  op- 
portunity to  account  for  its  stewardship  to  you,  a 
representative  body  of  the  citizenship  of  New  York, 
which  called  it  into  being,  and  which  alone  stands 
responsible  for  its  existence. 

Criticism — Attacks. 

Every  administration,  like  every  individual,  that 
undertakes  to  do  things,  develops  opposition  and 
enemies.  This  one  has  been  no  exception.  We  have 
had  some  bitter  critics  who  have  not  hesitated  de- 
liberately to  lie  about  the  acts  of  this  administra- 
tion. We  have  had  some  other  critics  who,  through 
mistake  or  a lack  of  understanding  of  the  facts, 
have  charged  extravagance  and  a failure  to  protect 
the  interests  of  the  taxpayer.  We  have  been  com- 
pelled to  repel  the  insidious  attacks  of  those  who 
are  constantly  on  the  alert  to  break  down  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  the  laws  framed  to  protect  the  people 
in  their  health,  their  safety,  their  comfort  and  the 
conditions  under  which  they  live.  In  framing  new 
and  sound  financial  policies  to  protect  the  tax- 
payer and  the  credit  of  the  city,  we  have  been 
charged  by  some  with  responsibility  for  conditions 
created  by  our  remote  predecessors,  and  great  con- 
structive plans  for  the  development  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  city  and  its  commerce  have  been  at- 
tacked through  a misunderstanding  of  their  details 
and  their  purposes. 

It  is  essential,  therefore,  to  the  success  of  this 
experiment  in  city  government  for  which  your  Com- 
mittee of  107  is  responsible,  that  the  citizenship  of 


5 


the  City  should  learn  from  time  to  time  from  us 
and  through  the  authoritative  medium  of  your  com- 
mittee, what  this  administration  has  done  and  what 
it  proposes  still  to  do  in  discharging  the  obliga- 
tions assumed  at  the  election  of  November,  1913. 

Appointments. 

The  first  duty  that  devolves  upon  the  Mayor  is 
the  selection  and  appointment  of  the  heads  of  his 
departments.  I have  already  stated  the  principle 
upon  which  this  was  done.  The  field  was  canvassed 
to  find  men  not  only  of  capacity  and  personal 
ability,  but  men  peculiarly  qualified  by  specialized 
training  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  each  re- 
spective department.  When  private  business 
organizes  itself,  it  will  not  select  a railroad  man 
to  run  an  industrial  enterprise,  or  a civil  engineer 
for  the  presidency  of  a trust  company.  It  regards 
specialized  training  as  essential  to  success  in  a 
specialized  field.  This  principle  I recognized  as 
Mayor  in  selecting  the  heads  of  my  departments. 
When  men  of  the  caliber  and  training  I desired 
were  found  within  the  ranks  of  a party  contributory 
to  fusion,  they  were  appointed,  and  I was  glad  of 
the  opportunity  to  select  them.  When,  however, 
men  better  qualified  and  better  trained  were  found 
outside  the  lines  of  party  organizations,  they  were 
appointed  despite  that  fact.  The  result  has  been, 
I think,  that  the  present  commissioners  of  the  city 
departments  comprise  as  able  and  qualified  a group 
of  administrators  and  specialists  in  the  problems  of 
their  respective  departments  as  has  ever  been 
brought  together  in  any  governmental  enterprise. 
These  men,  whether  they  have  been  drawn  from 
the  ranks  of  party  organizations  or  from  non- 
political civil  life,  have  strictly  and  conscientiously 
excluded  partisan  influences  from  their  depart- 
ments, and  have  been  inspired  by  a high  ideal  of 
civic  duty  and  by  a determined  purpose  to  give  to 
the  City  of  New  York  the  best  and  cleanest  admin- 

6 


istration  of  its  public  affairs  that  it  has  ever  known. 

Mistakes  are  inevitable  in  the  conduct  of  human 
affairs.  Some  mistakes  have  been  and  some  will 
be  made  in  the  departments  of  the  City  under  this 
administration.  None  of  them,  I am  thankful  to 
say,  has  been  serious.  They  have  all  beeu  of  that 
minor  nature  inevitably  incident  to  complex  admin- 
istration, but  on  the  wThole  the  result  attained  in  the 
departments,  I submit,  is  to-day  the  justification  of 
your  committee  for  its  labors  in  the  establishment 
of  the  present  non-partisan  business  government  of 
this  City. 

Police  Department. 

Every  preceding  administration  has  been  ship- 
wrecked on  the  rocks  of  the  police  department.  We 
have  weathered  fifteen  months  of  storms,  and 
the  police  department  is  better  organized,  more 
efficient,  better  disciplined,  and  with  a spirit  more 
responsive  to  the  commissioner  and  the  adminis- 
tration than  ever  before.  We  have  had  no  scandal 
and  no  breakdown  of  police  work.  We  have  effected 
a broad  reorganization  of  the  department  and  have 
inspired  the  men  with  a confidence  in  their  com- 
missioner and  in  their  officers,  based  on  the  assur- 
ance of  a square  deal  and  support  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties.  The  results  speak  loudly  for  them- 
selves. Convictions  for  arrests  of  all  kinds  have  in- 
creased from  72%  per  cent,  for  the  first  quarter  of 
1914  to  78  per  cent,  for  the  first  quarter  of  1915, 
while  convictions  for  felonies  have  increased  from 
36%  per  cent,  to  42  per  cent.  The  department  has 
addressed  itself  vigorously  to  the  suppression  and 
detection  of  crimes  of  violence.  Gangs  and  gang- 
sters have  been  unremittingly  pursued.  Gunmen 
have  been  catalogued  throughout  the  Greater  City. 
Each  known  gang  is  assigned  to  particular  detec- 
tives who  are  responsible  if  the  gang  commits  crime. 
The  work  of  detecting  crime  has  been  reorganized 
and  enormously  improved.  It  is  in  this  field  that 
results  in  crime  prevention  can  be  especially 


7 


attained.  The  best  example  of  effective  work  done 
in  this  field  was  the  arrest  of  the  anarchists  in 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  as  they  were  about  to  ex- 
plode a bomb.  This  was  achieved  only  after  months 
of  painstaking  surveillance  at  great  personal  risk 
to  the  detectives  assigned.  It  demonstrates  the 
kind  of  work  that  the  Police  Department  can  do 
when  it  has  the  support  and  confidence  of  the 
people. 

The  system  of  patrol  has  been  remodelled  and 
modern  devices  such  as  signal  flashlights,  the 
motorcycle,  the  automobile  patrol  and  frequent  sub- 
stations in  outlying  districts  for  bicycle  policemen 
have  been  adopted  or  extended.  The  detective  bu- 
reau lias  been  increased  and  reorganized,  and 
specialized  squads  have  'been  established.  The 
line-up  has  been  restored,  and  a better  co-operation 
between  the  detective  force  and  the  uniformed  force 
established.  The  training  school  has  been  de- 
veloped, and  men  of  all  ranks  brought  within  the 
scope  of  its  work.  No  man  is  promoted  without 
going  through  a course  for  officers. 

But  most  important  in  the  achievements  of  the 
present  police  commissioner  is  his  establishment  of 
a new  morale  among  the  men,  with  an  increased 
respect  for  their  own  duties  and  increased  loyalty 
to  the  commissioner  and  to  the  administration.  The 
men  are  to-day  inspired  by  a desire  to  perform 
effective  police  work  for  its  own  sake,  and  because 
they  know  that  reward  or  punishment  depend 
solely  upon  the  character  of  service  rendered  and 
are  to-day  divorced  absolutely  from  influence,  po- 
litical or  personal. 

In  the  matter  of  broader  police  policies,  we  have 
remembered  that  this  is  a great  cosmopolitan  and 
metropolitan  community  with  highly  complex 
problems  and  with  every  shade  of  opinion.  The 
duty  of  the  police  is  to  administer  the  law  given 
bv  the  legislature  of  the  state  without  unnecessary 
harassment  of  the  people  or  unnecessary  interfer- 


8 


ence  with  their  personal  liberties.  One  matter 
t hat  has  given  preceding  administrations  much  con- 
cern was  the  one  o’clock  closing  law  and  its  in- 
fringement, together  with  application  for  the  issue 
of  all-night  licenses.  This  problem  we  have  solved 
by  issuing  to  orderly  resorts  all-night  licenses  upon 
the  condition  that  they  agree  voluntarily  to  close 
at  two  o’clock,  and  with  the  understanding  that,  in 
the  event  of  a breach  of  the  agreement,  the  all-night 
license  will  be  revoked  and  the  one  o’clock  closing 
law  strictly  enforced.  The  plan  has  worked  very 
satisfactorily,  and  1 believe  that  the  results  in  added 
comfort  and  convenience  to  the  people,  and  the  pre- 
vention of  petty  breaches  of  an  over-rigorous  rule 
have  fully  justified  our  plan. 

Every  administration  is  confronted  with  the  ex- 
cise problem.  In  this  matter  we  have  pursued  in 
part  the  policy  of  Mayor  Gaynor,  and  have  kept 
the  police  force  out  of  the  liquor  saloons  except 
when  investigating  specific  complaints,  or  on  the 
direct  order  of  a superior  officer.  It  was  this  policy 
which  dissolved  the  dishonest  partnership  between 
certain  policemen  and  the  saloon  keepers,  and  has 
resulted  in  the  raising  of  the  morale  of  the  force. 
W e are  persistently  endeavoring  to  secure  effective 
enforcement  of  the  law,  and  are  progressively  secur- 
ing better  and  better  enforcement.  Our  policy  is  to 
go  slowly  and  surely,  carrying  out  measures  of 
enforcement  just  as  far  as  we  possibly  can  without 
corrupting  and  weakening  the  human  machine  with 
which  we  have  to  work. 

Health  Department. 

In  no  department  have  greater  constructive  re- 
sults been  attained  than  in  the  department  of 
health.  Dr.  Goldwater  is  the  first  commissioner 
to  realize  and  avail  himself  of  the  extraordinary 
powers  conferred  by  the  Charter  upon  that  de- 
partment, and  while  broadening  the  work  of  the 
department  and  carrying  it  to  a higher  plane,  he 


9 


lias  inaugurated  a great  campaign  of  public  edu- 
cation in  health  matters.  As  an  aide  to  liis  own 
judgment,  lie  has  established  an  advisory  council 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  representatives  of 
science,  and  of  the  business  and  social  life  of  the 
city,  and  has  associated  with  himself  this  commit- 
tee in  the  consideration  of  questions  of  department 
policy.  The  department  had  modernized  the 
Sanitary  Code;  it  has  reclaimed  the  field  of  in- 
dustrial hygiene,  and  its  work  here  will  reflect 
itself  in  the  improvement  of  the  health  of  industrial 
workers.  It  has  laid  the  foundation  for  an  ade- 
quate system  of  isolation  hospitals.  Two  sites 
were  approved  in  1914,  and  the  first  of  the  new 
buildings  is  nearing  completion.  The  principle  of 
full  time  service  has  been  established.  It  has 
notably  increased  the  protection  of  the  city’s  food 
supply,  for  example,  by  the  pasteurization  of  90 
per  cent,  of  the  cit3^s  milk  supply  and  by  the  sup- 
ervision of  food  manufacturing  establishments. 
Its  general  work  is  reflected  in  the  lowest  general 
death  rate  and  lowest  infant  mortality  rate  of  any 
city  in  the  United  States. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  the  undertakings 
of  this  department  has  been  that  to  secure  better 
conditions  of  transit  for  the  people  of  the  city. 
Everyone  has  known  for  years  that  our  surface  and 
subway  cars  have  been  crowded  to  a point  danger- 
ous to  the  public  health.  Every  agency  supplied  by 
State  and  City  has  unavailingly  attempted  to  better 
these  conditions.  The  Health  Department,  by  the 
simple  expedient  of  notifying  the  transit  companies 
that  the  operation  of  overcrowded  cars  is  a menace 
to  public  health,  and  by  the  promulgation  of  an 
order  of  the  Board  of  Health  forbidding  overcrowd- 
ing in  the  cars,  has  compelled  these  companies  to 
increase  their  service  and  decrease  congestion.  This 
order  is  issued  under  power  conferred  by  the  Char- 
ter and  its  breach  is  punishable  by  heavy  fine.  Iu 
the  successful  use  of  this  power  has  been  found  the 


10 


only  effective  means  of  attacking  tlie  overcrowding 
problem  in  the  surface  and  subways  cars  of  this 
city.  Dr.  Goldwater  told  me  only  two  days  ago 
that  the  operator  of  the  subway  will  be  compelled, 
under  his  regulations  to  maintain  during  the 
summer  a full  winter  schedule,  and  thus  afford 
thousands  of  additional  seats  to  the  traveling 
public. 

Street  Cleaning*  Department. 

The  work  of  street  cleaning  is  technical  and 
specialized.  For  that  reason,  I appointed  a special- 
ist, a man  who  had  developed  his  specialty  by  years 
of  training.  The  work  of  the  department  has  been 
reorganized  and  systematized,  with  the  result  that 
the  streets  of  the  city,  even  under  the  great  handi- 
cap of  construction  work  proceeding  at  so  many 
points,  are  cleaner  than  at  any  time  since  Colonel 
Waring’ s day.  A general  system  of  street  flushing 
has  been  put  into  force,  and  the  equipment  for 
street  scrubbing  has  been  doubled.  The  equipment 
of  the  department  is  being  gradually  modernized. 
Five  hundred  of  the  two  thousand  ash  and  garbage 
carts  of  the  department  have  been  covered,  and 
arrangements  completed  to  cover  eight  hundred 
more  within  a very  short  time.  A model  district 
has  been  organized  and  laid  out,  in  which  thor- 
oughly modern  and  scientific  equipment  will  be 
used.  On  the  basis  of  the  results  obtained  here,  the 
city  will  be  able  to  determine  the  value  in  results 
and  the  cost  of  modernizing  the  equipment  of  the 
department  throughout.  If,  as  the  commissioner 
predicts,  a reduced  expense  of  operation  demon- 
strates the  economy  of  the  application  of  this  plan 
to  the  whole  city,  we  may  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  ash  and  garbage  carts  will  be  covered,  and  the 
city’s  refuse  will  be  conveyed  to  its  point  of  dispo- 
sition in  odorless,  dustless,  motor  driven  vehicles, 
and  when  the  streets,  by  scientific  sweeping  and 


11 


flushing,  Avill  be  kept  constantly  in  a state  of  real 
cleanliness. 

This  winter  a new  plan  of  snow  removal  was  put 
into  force.  The  department  organized  a great  force 
of  emergency  men  subject  to  call  in  the  event  of 
snow.  These  men  were  put  into  the  field  within  a 
few  hours  after  the  beginning  of  a snow  storm  and 
either  swept  the  snow  into  the  sewers  where  they 
were  of  a character  to  permit  it,  or  piled  the  snow 
for  removal  later  by  the  carts  and  trucks  of  the 
department.  While  weather  conditions  favored 
the  department  much  more  this  year  than  last,  the 
new  system  has  demonstrated  its  worth,  and  the 
streets  of  the  city  were  open  to  traffic  and  the  snow 
removed  more  quickly  than  ever  in  the  history  of 
the  department. 

The  department  planned  this  year  to  translate 
the  present  annual  deficit  of  $1, 400, 000  incurred 
in  the  final  disposition  of  city  refuse  into  a profit. 
To  that  end  it  asked  of  the  legislature  a bill  to 
enable  it  to  make  a long  term  contract  in  place  of 
the  present  5-year  contract,  or,  in  the  alternative, 
to  build  a plant  and  secure  a private  operator  to 
equip  and  run  it  on  a profit-sharing  basis.  Here 
we  encountered  much  misrepresentation  and  mis- 
taken criticism.  It  was  charged  that  this  bill 
would  give  to  the  prospective  contractor  the  oppor- 
tunity to  make  an  undue  profit  at  the  expense  of 
the  city.  As  the  city  now  pays  its  contractors  $1,- 
400,000  annually,  which  under  the  bill  would  have 
been  saved  net  to  the  city,  the  plan  certainly  would 
have  profited  him  $1, 400, 000  less  than  a continua- 
tion of  the  present  method.  Furthermore,  the  very 
essence  of  the  plan  was  a profit  sharing  with  the 
city  on  the  basis  of  the  investment  of  each.  It 
seems  to  me  that  if  the  city  is  not  in  a financial 
position  to  erect  and  equip  the  entire  plant — a mat- 
ter of  a |9,000,000  investment — it  would  not  be 
unfair  to  allow  private  capital  a profit  upon  the  in- 
vestment which  the  city  invites  it  to  make  in  the 


12 


enterprise.  However  that  may  be,  these  argu- 
ments, though  the  bill  passed  the  legislature,  led 
the  Governor  to  veto  it,  and  the  city  must  go  on 
paying  out  $1,400,000  annually  until  some  time  in 
the  future  another  bill  conferring  the  necessary 
power  can  become  law. 

Dock  Department. 

The  largest  physical  constructive  problems  which 
this  administration  is  called  upon  to  solve  falls 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  dock  department. 
They  are  also  the  most  important  to  commerce  and 
to  the  business  interests  of  New  York.  In  1914 
the  department  constructed  134,000,  square  feet  of 
new  piers  as  against  59,000  in  1913.  It  has  nego- 
tiated a great  number  of  new  leases  at  increased 
rentals,  and  lias  secured  the  extension  and  recon- 
struction by  private  capital  of  piers  upon  city 
owned  land  at  increased  rentals  to  the  city.  It  has 
readjusted  leaseholds  and  provided  better  facilities 
for  the  marine  commerce  of  the  city,  and  in  1914  it 
transacted  its  business  with  a decreased  adminis- 
trative expense  of  $312,000  under  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding year.  Furthermore,  it  has  translated  a de- 
ficit on  the  Staten  Island  Division  of  the  Municipal 
Ferry,  which  in  1912  was  $189,000  into  an  operat- 
ing profit  of  slightly  over  $15,000. 

The  three  most  important  constructive  projects 
of  the  department  are : 

First,  the  building  of  a terminal  freight  railway 
along  the  waterfront  of  Brooklyn  from  the  Brook- 
lyn Bridge  to  65th  Street.  The  plans  have  been 
completed;  the  funds  have  been  set  aside;  the 
scheme  of  operation  has  been  worked  out.  The 
project  is  waiting  only  on  the  signature  of  the 
Governor  to  the  enabling  act  which  permits  the 
city  to  get,  as  joint  operators  of  the  enterprise, 
all  of  the  eastern  trunk  line  railroads  with  termini 
in  this  port.  The  bill  was  heard  by  me  this  fore- 
noon and  will,  I have  every  confidence,  be  signed  bv 


13 


the  Governor  next  week.  That  enterprise  will  add 
$100,000,000  to  the  taxable  values  of  the  city  and 
bring  countless  millions  to  our  people  through  the 
development  of  our  commerce  and  our  industries. 

The  second  great  constructive  project  is  the  ad- 
justment with  the  New  York  Central  of  its  termi- 
nal facilities  upon  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Is- 
land. Plans  for  a complete  adjustment  which  will 
put  the  railroad  off  the  surface  of  the  city  streets 
and  under  cover  through  the  city’s  parks  have  been 
long  in  process  of  preparation  by  the  department, 
and  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  terminal  commit- 
tee of  the  board  of  estimate  for  consideration. 

The  third  great  project  is  for  the  construction  of 
an  immense  dry  dock  on  the  Brooklyn  waterfront. 
This  port  is  without  a commercial  dry  dock  that 
will  accommodate  thousand-foot  ships.  There  is 
every  reason  why  the  port  of  New  York  should  not 
go  longer  without  that  facility.  While  plans  for 
these  works  are  either  completed  or  in  process 
of  preparation,  the  department  is  rapidly  progress- 
ing the  building  of  the  thousand-foot  piers  at  Forty- 
fourth  street  for  the  accommodation  of  the  largest 
trans-Atlantic  liners. 

Fire  Department. 

The  fire  department,  upon  a budget  lower  by 
$55,000  than  in  1914,  has  organized  a series  of  new 
companies  which,  by  July,  will  equal  a fire  depart- 
ment of  a city  the  size  of  Rochester  or  Buffalo.  It 
lias  done  this  by  the  exercise  of  strict  business 
economy,  and  by  a reorganization  and  redistribu- 
tion of  its  personnel.  The  work  of  fire  prevention 
has  been  carried  forward  and  improved,  with  the 
result  that  the  fire  loss  was  kept  to  a figure  lower 
than  that  of  any  year  since  1907,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  years,  and  in  this  field  the  power  of  the 
department  has  been  materially  increased  by  the 
action  brought  by  the  Commissioner  which  has 
established  his  right,  for  the  first  time  in  the  City’s 


14 


history,  to  collect  the  expense  of  fighting  a fire 
caused  by  culpable  and  willful  negligence. 

The  department  plans,  before  the  expiration  of 
this  administration,  to  construct  a new  and  modern 
fire  alarm  telegraph  system  for  all  boroughs;  the 
complete  motorization  of  the  department  through- 
out; to  inaugurate  and  operate  for  revenue  fire 
alarm  systems  in  buildings.  It  is  estimated  that 
by  this  plan  sufficient  revenue  can  be  collected  to 
defray  the  entire  cost  of  the  fire  alarm  signal  sys- 
tem. By  a careful  study  of  the  organization  of  the 
force,  and  by  taking  full  advantage  of  motorization, 
it  is  hoped  that  no  increase  will  be  necessary  in 
the  uniform  force. 

Department  of  Correction. 

The  achievements  of  the  department  of  correc- 
tion have  been  both  administrative  and  in  the  field 
of  constructive  planning.  Effective  discipline  in  all 
institutions  has  been  established;  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  dishonest  employees  have  been  arrested  and 
convicted.  Effective  checks  have  been  placed  upon 
the  drug  traffic  in  the  institutions,  and  broad  im- 
provements in  the  medical  service  have  been 
made.  The  institutions  under  the  department  of 
correction  have  hitherto  been  corruptive  rather 
than  correctional.  Almost  every  condition  existing 
within  them  combined  to  degrade  and  vitiate  the 
prisoners,  and  to  send  them  back  into  the  com- 
munity worse  equipped  for  participation  in  its  so- 
cial life  than  before.  The  great  work  of  the  present 
administration  has  been  to  change  the  spirit  and 
character  of  these  institutions  and  to  make  them 
correctional  in  fact.  In  furtherance  of  this,  Miss 
Davis  has  established  a new  reformatory  at  Hamp- 
ton Farms,  where  correct  reformatory  principles 
are  applied.  She  has  developed  plans  for  a rebuild- 
ing of  the  department’s  plant  with  the  correctional 
idea  in  view  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $2,000,000  in 
place  of  the  $10,000,000  heretofore  estimated  as  the 


15 


cost  of  this  undertaking,  and  has  outlined  a scheme 
whereby  the  department  may  be  made  self-support- 
ing within  the  next  ten  or  fifteen  years  instead  of 
costing  the  taxpayers  $1,300,000  per  year  as  at 
present. 

Commissioner  Davis  lias  established  a calendar 
for  the  remainder  of  her  administration  which,  if 
funds  can  be  found,  the  city  should  certainly  carry 
out.  It  contemplates  the  removal  of  the  entire  re- 
formatory population  from  Hart's  Island  to  New 
Hampton  within  the  next  year  and  a half;  the  re- 
moval of  the  workhouse  men  from  Blackwell’s  Isl- 
and to  Biker’s  Island ; the  quartering  of  at  least 
1,200  penitentiary  prisoners  at  Hart's  Island 
within  a year ; the  erection  of  a new  detention  home 
for  women  within  the  next  year  and  a half;  the 
purchase  of  a two-hundred-acre  farm  for  women  in 
the  country;  a careful  reorganization  of  the  in- 
dustries of  the  department  within  the  next  two 
years;  the  establishment  of  a hospital  for  drug 
users  accommodating  125  patients  at  Hart’s  Island, 
and  the  utilization  of  the  Hoff-Mills  Parole  Bill  to 
make  the  department  self-supporting  through  the 
use  of  the  labor  of  its  wards. 

Most  important  of  the  contributions  of  Miss  Davis 
is  her  establishment  of  the  true  principle  of  correc- 
tion. Her  administration  recognizes  that  useful 
employment,  decent  sanitary  conditions  and  proper 
treatment  are  necessary  to  make  these  institutions 
curative  as  well  as  punitive. 

Department  of  Charities. 

A heavy  burden  has  fallen  upon  the  Department 
of  Charities  this  year.  Probably  never  before  in 
the  history  of  the  city  has  there  been  so  severe  a 
demand  upon  the  generosity  and  good  will  of  the 
community.  During  the  year  1914  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Charities  has  been  pressed  on  the  one 
hand  by  the  consequences  of  war  abroad,  and  by 


16 


abnormal  industrial  conditions  at  home,  and  on  the 
other  hand  by  the  activity  of  a host  of  detractors 
and  enemies,  who  have  had  special  interests  or 
prejudices  to  serve.  Despite  these  conditions,  the 
department  has  been  able  to  add  no  small  number 
of  constructive  achievements  to  its  credit. 

By  quiet,  careful  work  in  improving  methods  of 
purchasing,  handling,  preparation  and  distribution, 
the  City  has  been  able  to  feed  in  1914  a total  aver- 
age of  2,400  more  people  per  day  than  in  1913, 
without  the  expenditure  of  a single  additional  dol- 
lar. -Most  significant  of  all,  this  has  been  accom- 
plished simultaneously  with  an  improvement  of  the 
quality  and  an  extension  of  the  variety  and  quan- 
tity of  tlie  food  supplied  to  the  poor. 

Commissioner  Kingsbury  lias  established  a 
Bureau  of  Social  Investigations,  which  undertakes 
for  the  first  time  to  do  family  rehabilitation  work 
in  the  homes  of  the  poor  and  which  in  its  first  six 
months  of  existence  returned  1,300  children  from 
institutions  to  their  homes,  effecting  a total  saving 
to  the  City  of  |200,000. 

We  have  for  the  first  time  exercised  the  power 
inevitably  incident  to  the  control  of  the  purse- 
strings to  try  to  establish  and  maintain  in  the  pri- 
vate subsidized  institutions  of  the  city  the  same 
high  standards  and  ideals  which  we  are  endeavor- 
ing to  set  for  the  institutions  directly  conducted  by 
the  city. 

We  have  completed  the  organization  of  a modern 
hospital,  which  in  form  of  medical  service  will  rank 
with  Johns  Hopkins  and  Massachusetts  General  as 
one  of  the  best  hospitals  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

We  have  done  away  for  all  time  with  that  grue- 
some chamber  of  horrors  popularly  known  as  The 
Morgue,  and  substituted  in  its  place  a well-ap- 
pointed modern  mortuary. 

We  have  established  a winter  annex  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Municipal  Lodging  House,  equipped 
to  take  care  of  1,500  homeless  men  who  hitherto  had 


17 


been  compelled  to  sleep  on  the  bare  boards  of  the 
prison  pen  and  the  pillowless  floor  of  the  Morgue. 

At  the  outset  of  this  administration  I expressly 
directed  Commissioner  Kingsbury  to  turn  his  ef- 
forts not  only  toward  the  proper  housing,  feeding 
and  clothing  of  the  poor,  but  toward  an  examination 
into  the  conditions  which  create  poverty  and  toward 
the  elimination  and  prevention  of  those  conditions. 
A beginning  has  been  made  in  this  direction.  It 
is  our  hope  that  we  may  be  able  to  take  substantial 
forward  strides  during  the  next  three  years. 

We  want  to  make  the  Municipal  Lodging  House 
something  more  than  mere  sleeping  quarters  for 
tired,  hungry  men,  out  of  work;  we  want  to  make 
it  a great  human  repair  shop,  manned  and  equipped 
to  rebuild  the  broken  lives  of  those  who  enter  its 
doors  for  help.  Through  our  Bureau  of  Social  In- 
vestigations we  want  to  carry  on  preventive  social 
service  work  in  the  houses  of  the  poor.  We  want 
to  make  the  institution  for  feeble-minded  children 
at  Randalls  Island  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
rather  than  one  of  the  most  notorious  institutions 
in  the  country.  We  want  to  elevate  the  standards 
and  ideals  of  all  our  public  institutions  to  such  a 
position  that  they  may  become  models  of  their  kind 
throughout  the  world,  and  at  the  same  time  to  com- 
pel the  private  institutions  which  receive  money 
from  the  city  to  live  up  to  the  same  standards  and 
ideals.  We  want  to  introduce  into  the  work  of  the 
department  the  most  approved  modern  method  of 
efficiency  and  economy,  and  what  is  even  more  im- 
portant, to  humanize  the  machinery  of  this  branch 
of  the  city  government. 

This  department  will  inevitably  need  additions 
to  its  physical  plant  in  the  near  future.  The  City 
must  care  for  its  dependents,  and  the  institutions 
are  already  crowded  beyond  capacity. 


18 


Other  Departments. 

I might  go  on,  if  time  were  at  my  disposal,  to 
review  the  work  of  the  other  departments — to  point 
out  how  the  department  of  water  supply,  on  a 
budget  decreased  by  $370,000,  has  extended  the 
lighting  system  of  the  City  and  improved  its 
quality;  how  this  department  has  obtained  lower 
rates  from  the  lighting  companies;  how  it  has  ex- 
tended the  system  of  the  City’s  water  mains,  and  is 
now  negotiating  with  the  private  water  companies 
in  Queens  for  the  acquisition  of  their  distributing 
systems  on  a basis  that  will  not  be  burdensome  to 
the  taxpayer;  how  the  bridge  department  has  ad- 
vanced construction  work  to  meet  the  opening  of 
our  rapid  transit  system;  how  the  department  of 
licenses  has  established  its  new  employment  bureau, 
has  controlled  the  theatres  and  the  moving  picture 
houses,  has  exercised  sanitary  control  over  the  issue 
of  new  licenses,  and  has  protected  the  morals  of  the 
community  through  its  supervision  of  dance  halls 
and  public  exhibitions;  how  the  civil  service  com- 
mission has  reorganized  its  system  of  competitive 
and  physical  examinations,  devising  a more  scien- 
tific selective  method,  and  has  reorganized  its  force 
for  the  better  discharge  of  its  duties — but  a com- 
plete review  of  these  and  of  the  other  departments 
would  require  too  much  time,  and  the  record  has 
been  made,  in  part,  currently  in  the  press. 

Executive  Control. 

It  is  not  sufficient  for  the  Mayor  to  appoint  the 
heads  of  his  departments  and  send  them  into  the 
field.  If  his  administration  is  to  be  successful,  he 
must  work  with  them  constantly  day  by  day.  No 
Mayor  heretofore  has  ever  tried  to  be  the  business 
manager  of  the  city.  I conceive  that  he  should  be, 
that  he  must  be  if  his  control  is  to  be  real  as  well 
as  theoretic.  It  is  not  enough  to  sit  quietly  by,  as 
lias  been  the  custom  in  the  past,  and  wait  for  situa- 
tions to  arise,  for  difficulties  to  be  presented  by  the 


19 


administrative  heads  of  the  departments,  to  com- 
mission them  to  make  good  if  they  can,  and  to  sup- 
plant them  if  they  fail.  The  Mayor  should  work 
day  by  day  Avitli  them  on  the  problems  of  adminis- 
tration and  of  policy.  That  he  cannot  do  directly 
personally.  His  time  is  too  far  consumed  by  the 
meetings  of  deliberative  boards,  and  by  essential 
interviews,  conferences  and  public  meetings.  He 
must  have  time  at  his  disposal  for  consideration  of 
the  great  questions  of  city-wide  policy.  His  execu- 
tive  control,  therefore,  must  be  through  an  agency. 
The  agencies  I have  employed  for  this  purpose  have 
been  the  Chamberlain  and  the  Commissioner  of 
Accounts. 

I invited  Mr.  Bruere  to  become  Chamberlain  with 
this  particular  plan  in  mind.  I wanted  someone 
with  a thorough  knoAvledge  of  the  organization  of 
the  city  government,  and  with  capacity  for 
handling  the  problems  of  administration,  to  assist 
me  in  keeping  a centralized  executive  control  of  the 
administration  of  the  departments  within  my  juris- 
diction, to  work  with  the  heads  of  departments 
critically  and  constructively,  and  with  them,  bring- 
ing to  the  consideration  of  questions  the  point  of 
vieAV  of  the  executive,  to  formulate  and  present  to 
me  in  thoroughly  digested  form  the  questions  that 
require  executive  decision. 

The  office  of  chamberlain  afforded  this  oppor- 
tunity, because  the  functions  and  duties  of  the  office 
are  such  as  to  leave  a surplus  of  free  time  for  de- 
A’otion  to  work  of  this  character. 

The  office  of  the  commissioner  of  accounts,  al- 
though primarily  Investigative  and  auditing  in  the 
nature  of  its  duties,  has  also  been  valuable  for  a 
great  portion  of  this  work.  It  was  my  plan  to  re- 
organize that  office,  to  make  it  a single-headed 
commission,  to  make  its  duties  constructive  as  well 
as  critical  and  analytic — to  make  it,  in  short,  the 
Mayor’s  arm  and  agent  of  administration,  study- 
ing problems  of  the  departments,  co-operating  in 


20 


1 lie  solution  of  them,  developing  with  them,  from 
the  executive  point  of  view,  methods  and  processes, 
and  principally  keeping  the  Mayor  constantly  in- 
formed directly  of  the  operations  of  all  those  por- 
tions of  the  government  for  which  he  is  responsible. 
The  legislature  of  last  year  denied  my  application 
for  a one-headed  commission,  constructive  in  name 
as  well  as  in  duties.  The  legislature  of  this  year 
has  before  it  a hill  of  this  character.  If  it  passes, 
I can  make  the  work  of  the  Mayor,  in  controlling 
the  administration  of  the  departments  vastly  more 
effective.  If  it  fails,  1 must  get  on  as  best  I can 
under  conditions  as  they  are. 

Commissioner  of  Accounts. 

In  the  meantime,  the  commissioner  of  accounts 
has  continued  the  effective  discharge  of  his  general 
investigative  duties,  with  the  result  that  his  report 
upon  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  elective  coroner 
system  has  brought  about  the  enactment  of  a law 
which  will  abolish  that  system  at  the  expiration 
of  the  terms  of  the  present  coroners,  and  will  sub- 
stitute for  it  an  effective  and  economical  system  for 
the  investigation  of  homicide  cases. 

The  office  has  conducted  a large  number  of 
special  investigations  at  my  direction  and  upon  its 
own  initiative,  including  that  of  the  discharge  of 
its  duties  by  the  board  of  building  examiners. 

On  the  constructive  side,  it  has  completed  an 
exhaustive  survey  of  the  departments  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Mayor,  with  a view  to  disclosing 
and  eliminating  conflict  and  duplication  of  func- 
tions, the  results  of  which  are  reflected  in  graphic 
charts  employed  in  the  work  of  general  reorganiza- 
tion accomplished  and  under  way.  It  has  colla- 
borated in  budget  preparation,  and  in  the  solution 
of  a thousand  administrative  problems. 

General  Problems. 

Tliis  administration  has  been  confronted  with 
serious  conditions  which  lay  beyond  the  field  or 

21 


jurisdiction  of  any  one  of  the  departments.  The 
European  war  and  business  depression  at  home 
created  last  winter  an  unprecedented  condition  of 
general  unemployment.  This  the  government  of  the 
City,  while  not  recognizing  any  legal  obligation, 
undertook  to  relieve  as  far  as  lay  in  its  power. 
Public  works  of  all  kinds  projected  for  the  imme- 
diate future  were  advanced  by  the  departments  and 
by  the  Board  of  Estimate  to  the  point  of  actual  be- 
ginning with  all  possible  speed. 

A large  citizens’  committee,  representative  of  the 
business,  financial  and  social  interests  of  the  city, 
was  appointed  by  me,  and  undertook  at  once  a study 
of  the  underlying  conditions  of  unemployment  and 
the  immediate  relief  of  those  in  most  pressing  need. 
This  committee  collected  approximately  $200,000, 
and  established  throughout  the  city  some  twenty-two 
workshops,  in  which  over  4,500  men  and  women 
have  been  employed  during  the  past  winter  on  use- 
ful work,  and  at  wages  sufficient  to  keep  them  from 
becoming  public  charges,  and  under  conditions 
which  permitted  them  to  seek,  and  many  of  them 
to  find  permanent  employment.  Realizing  that  the 
unemployment  problem  is  intimately  connected 
with  our  industrial  system  and  wishing  to  have 
this  responsibility  indicated,  I asked  Judge  Gary 
to  accept  the  chairmanship  of  this  committee. 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  there  came  a 
threat  of  heightened  food  prices.  To  deal  with  this 
matter,  I appointed  another  citizens  committee 
which  has  conducted,  through  the  public  schools 
and  through  the  public  press,  a campaign  of  gen- 
eral education,  and  has  contributed  in  large  meas- 
ure toward  discouraging  the  imposition  of  exorbi- 
tant food  prices. 

At  the  time  when  numberless  New  Yorkers  were 
abroad,  and  seemed  to  be  unable  to  secure  means 
of  transportation  to  the  United  States,  a third 
committee  was  appointed  to  cooperate  with  the  na- 
tional government  in  facilitating  their  return  and 


22 


in  relieving  those  who  might  arrive  in  destitute 
condition. 

The  work  of  all  of  these  committees  has  helped 
materially  in  bringing  us  successfully  through  a 
winter  of  extraordinary  stress  and  trouble. 

The  Budget. 

By  suggestion  and  by  direct  statement  this  ad- 
ministration lias  been  charged  by  its  enemies  with 
extravagance.  What  is  the  truth  ? 

By  the  exercise  of  painstaking  economy,  by 
taking  advantage  of  every  means  at  hand,  by  im- 
proving processes,  by  eliminating  duplication,  by 
dropping  supernumeraries,  the  departments  of  the 
Mayor  are  today  operating  on  an  annual  basis  one 
million  and  a half  lower  than  last  year.  The  ad- 
ministrative cost  of  government  which  covers  these 
departments,  the  Borough  Presidents  and  the 
Comptroller,  has  been  reduced  in  the  budget  of  this 
year  two  million  dollars  below  that  of  last  year. 
In  this  field  where  alone  the  Board  of  Estimate  has 
jurisdiction  and  power,  it  has  cut  the  cost  of  gov- 
ernment way  down  below  what  it  ever  was  before. 

Our  budget  has  increased  despite  this  fact.  Yes, 
but  because  increases  took  place  over  which  we  had 
no  control.  There  were  three  and  a half  million 
more  uncollectible  taxes  to  provide  for  in  this 
budget  than  in  that  of  1914.  There  was  an  increase 
of  seven  millions  in  debt  service,  due  to  bonds 
issued  in  1914  but  authorized  long  before,  due  to 
the  high  interest  on  the  $ 100,000,000  loan  and  due 
to  the  $2,000,000  revenue  bonds  for  last  winter’s 
snow  removal  which  had  to  be  redeemed.  There 
was  an  increase  also  in  the  allowance  for  education 
to  provide  for  mandatory  salary  increases  and  for 
additional  teachers  to  care  for  the  increased  num- 
ber of  pupils  in  the  system. 

These  increases  which  we  could  not  control  over- 
balanced our  saving  of  $2,000,000  and  sent  the 


23 


budget  up  $0, 000,000  to  its  present  total  of 
$199,000,000. 

Next  year  we  will  be  able  to  balance  every  in- 
crease even  those  due  to  the  new  financial  policy, 
by  a saving  or  a reduction,  so  that  our  budget  and 
our  tax  rate  in  1910  would  not  go  up,  were  it  not 
for  the  proposed  direct  State  tax.  If  your  tax  bill 
in  1916  is  higher  than  that  in  1915,  you  will  know 
that  it  is  due  to  the  levy  that  the  State  may  make 
upon  us  this  year. 

New  Financial  Policy. 

Gradually  over  a period  of  much  more  than  half 
a century,  the  City  of  New  York  has  been  piling 
up  a municipal  debt  of  huge  proportions.  This  debt 
was  incurred  for  almost  every  conceivable  purpose. 
Although  theoretically  contracted  only  for  physical 
improvements  of  a permanent  nature,  partly 
through  loose  practice  and  partly  by  fraudulent  de- 
sign, the  proceeds  of  the  City’s  borrowings  were 
used  for  purely  temporary  purposes — such  as  wages 
of  maintenance  forces,  and  the  cost  of  perishable 
personal  property. 

Gradually  in  recent  years  a better  practice  has 
been  built  up  until,  under  the  administration  of 
Mayor  Gaynor,  the  board  of  estimate  carefully  dis- 
tinguished between  the  permanent  improvements 
for  which  long  term  bonds  were  issued,  and  main- 
tenance charges  carried  out  of  the  tax  levy  of  the 
year.  But  when  this  administration  came  into 
office,  the  gross  debt  of  the  city  had  reached 
the  staggering  figure  of  $1,223,918,429.58,  while  the 
net  funded  debt  was  $898,013,401.88.  In  the  bud- 
get of  the  present  year  we  carry  the  sum  of 
$59,000,000  on  account  of  debt  service  alone.  Mani- 
festly it  was  incumbent  upon  some  administration 
to  put  a stop  to  the  increase  of  this  crushing  debt. 
The  present  administration  faced  the  situation 
frankly  and  undertook  that  duty. 

At  the  time  when  we  negotiated  the  $100,000,000 


24 


loan  of  last  September,  we  declared  a new  financial 
polic3r.  We  declared  that  we  would  hereafter  carry 
in  the  tax  budget  of  the  city,  in  increasing  propor- 
tion, the  cost  of  permanent  public  improvements 
of  a non-self-sustaining  character  until,  at  the  ex- 
piration of  four  years,  we  would  carry  in  the  bud- 
get the  entire  cost  of  such  improvements. 

This  is  a radical  departure  from  the  City's  former 
policy.  It  will,  of  course,  add  in  the  immediate 
future  large  sums  to  the  budget  of  the  City.  It 
was  necessary,  however,  as  a step  to  protect  the 
credit  of  New  York.  It  puts  the  City,  for  the  first 
time  in  its  history,  upon  a pay-as-you-go  basis. 

In  the  course  of  a number  of  years,  the  reduction 
iu  debt  service  on  account  of  non-self -sustaining 
improvements  will  more  than  balance  the  yearly 
sum  which  the  City  must  carry  on  account  of  the 
quota  of  such  improvements  for  the  current  year. 

This  is  clear  when  we  realize  that  issuing  4 y2  per 
cent,  bonds  at  the  rate  of  $20,000,000  per  year,  the 
interest  and  sinking  fund  charges  carried  in  the 
budget  at  the  end  of  20  years  would  amount  to  up- 
wards of  $20,000,000.  So,  if  the  amount  of  capital 
expenditure  is  approximately  the  same  each  year, 
and  if  we  begin  to  carry  all  our  non-self-sustaining 
improvements  in  the  budget  now,  the  annual  saving 
in  interest  and  sinking  fund  in  20  years  will  equal 
the  full  amount  which  we  will  then  be  carrying  in 
the  budget.  In  the  meantime  the  decrease  in  debt- 
service  due  to  the  redemption  each  year  of  some 
bonds  now  outstanding  will  be  a further  offsetting 
reduction. 

This  new  policy  did  not  affect  the  budget  of  1915. 
The  first  budget  which  will  feel  its  effect  will  be 
that  of  next  year.  We  must  write  into  that  budget 
one-quarter  of  all  bonds  issued  in  1915  for  improve- 
ments authorized  during  1915,  and  an  additional 
sum  to  pay  interest  and  amortization  charges  upon 
the  fifteen-vear  serial  bonds  to  carry  the  balance. 
In  the  following  year,  a still  larger  sum  must 


25 


be  carried  in  the  budget,  for  then  one-half  the 
cost  of  all  bonds  issued  for  improvements  au- 
thorized in  1916  will  be  carried  directly  in  the  tax 
budget;  in  the  following  year,  three-quarters,  and 
so  on. 

Tax  Situation. 

The  budget  situation  for  1916,  I have  already  ex- 
plained. What  I have  just  told  you  demonstrates 
that  in  1917  and  subsequent  years  the  people  must 
look  forward  to  a budget  materially  increased  over 
the  figures  of  this  year,  because  of  this  new  finan- 
cial policy.  We  have  been  steadily  reducing  the 
cost  of  running  the  departments  of  the  city.  After 
making  the  budget  of  1916,  in  my  judgment,  we 
will  have  reduced  the  cost  of  running  those  depart- 
ments as  far  as  we  can  upon  the  basis  of  the  present 
service  rendered.  In  the  absence,  therefore,  of  the 
repeal  of  mandatory  legislation  which  would  per- 
mit us  to  economize  in  the  field  over  which  at 
present  we  have  no  control  and,  in  my  judgment, 
even  allowing  for  all  the  economies  that  we  could 
effect  in  that  field,  the  City  of  Hew  York,  Avhen  it 
makes  its  budget  for  1916  and  subsequent  years, 
will  be  face  to  face  with  the  following  problem : 

Unless  the  people  are  willing  to  accept  a higher 
tax  rate  upon  real  property  and  to  carry  the  in- 
creased cost  of  the  direct  state  tax  in  1916,  and  of 
the  new  financial  policy  in  1917  and  subsequent 
years  as  a charge  upon  real  estate,  the  government 
of  this  city  must  either  greatly  reduce  its  activities 
and  the  service  which  it  now  renders  to  the  people, 
or  it  must  develop  some  new  sources  of  municipal 
revenue. 

If  the  people  are  willing  to  submit  to  the  reduc- 
tion of  service  by  eliminating  such  activities  as  the 
recreational  work  of  the  city,  a part  of  the  health 
protective  work,  a material  part  of  the  educational 
work,  we  might  perhaps  succeed  in  reducing  the 
budget  by  several  million  dollars.  But  even  this, 


26 


in  my  judgment,  would  fail  to  balance  the  inevitable 
increases  of  the  next  four  or  five  years. 

The  alternative  to  this  reduction  of  service  and 
curtailment  of  activities  is  the  development  of  new 
income  in  a sum  sufficient  to  carry  the  increase  in 
the  budget.  Such  income  can  only  be  developed 
through  taxation  of  one  kind  or  another.  A com- 
mission of  my  appointment  has  been  at  work  for 
upwards  of  a year  developing  suggestions  for  such 
a plan  for  raising  added  revenue.  It  is  now  past 
the  time  when  the  legislation  necessary  to  carry 
any  plan  into  effect  could  be  enacted  this  year. 
Ample  time  remains  for  the  development,  the  dis- 
cussion and  the  adoption  of  a plan  before  the  legis- 
lature of  1916  convenes.  No  more  crucial  or 
fundamental  problem  is  presented  to  this  govern- 
ment than  that  of  deciding  between  the  curtail- 
ment of  service  and  the  development  of  new  rev- 
enues. The  whole  future  of  New  York  depends 
upon  the  decision.  The  government  cannot  solve 
this  question  by  itself.  It  must  have  the  help  of 
the  whole  citizenship,  and  all  those  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  New  York  as  well  as  those  who  are 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  the  present  adminis- 
tration, owe  it  as  a duty  to  bring  us  their  advice, 
their  suggestions,  their  co-operation  and  their  sup- 
port. 

Home  Rule. 

New  York  City  is  governed  very  largely  from 
Albany.  We  have  not  the  power  to  regulate  our 
local  affairs.  We  are  compelled  when  we  need  to 
make  slight  changes  in  the  organization  of  our  de- 
partments, and  often  even  in  purely  administrative 
matters,  to  go  to  Albany.  This  year  we  asked  the 
legislature  for  a series  of  bills  necessary  to  the 
economic  and  effective  conduct  of  our  business.  A 
number  have  been  given  us,  among  them  the  Mar- 
ginal Railway  Bill,  the  Trade  Waste  Bill  and  the 
Final  Disposition  Bill. 


27 


Other  and  still  more  important  bills  are  before 
the  legislature. 

We  have  asked  for  a small  board  of  education. 
Every  intelligent,  disinterested  student  of  the  ques- 
tion agrees  that  the  present  board  is  unwieldy,  and 
that  a small,  compact,  businesslike  could  adminis- 
ter the  schools  vastly  more  economically  and  effi- 
ciently. That  bill  would  mean  millions  in  saving 
to  New  York. 

We  have  asked  the  Commissioners  of  Accounts 
Bill,  which  I have  already  explained.  It  remains 
in  committee. 

We  have  asked  an  effective  Central  Purchase 
Bill.  The  bill,  which  was  the  result  of  a confer- 
ence and  agreement  of  members  of  the  board,  re- 
mains in  committee,  and  another  which  we  did  not 
ask  and  did  not  want  has  been  enacted. 

Most  important  of  them  all,  we  have  asked  a bill 
giving  to  the  board  of  estimate  and  the  board  of 
aldermen  the  same  jurisdiction  over  the  salaries 
and  numbers  of  city  and  county  employees,  which 
they  now  have  over  those  in  the  departments  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mayor.  This  bill  would 
give  the  board  of  estimate  the  power  to  save  the 
taxpayers  many  millions  of  dollars  in  the  next  and 
ensuing  budgets.  The  bill  is  still  in  committee.  I 
am  told  it  will  not  pass  because  of  the  opposition  of 
city  employees.  It  has  come  to  the  point  when  the 
organized  city  employees  are  stronger  at  Albany 
than  the  government  of  the  city  and  the  taxpayers 
combined. 

All  this  legislation,  asked,  granted  or  denied,  as 
well  as  the  interfering,  disruptive  and  vicious  Lock- 
wood  Bill,  devised  and  pushed  to  the  point  of  final 
passage  by  certain  landlords  and  land  speculators, 
merely  demonstrates  the  imperative  necessity  for 
genuine  Municipal  Home  Rule. 

Real  Home  Rule  New  York  will  never  get  from 
the  legislature.  We  will  go  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  this  year,  however,  with  a demand  for 


28 


home  rule  fortified  by  constitutional  provision,  a de- 
mand which  will  not  be  expressed  by  the  voice  of 
this  city  alone,  but  will  be  dinned  into  the  ears  of 
the  constitutional  delegates  by  the  united  voices  of 
fifty-four  cities  of  this  state.  At  last,  I am  happy 
to  say,  the  cities  of  this  state  recognize  their  com- 
mon necessity,  and  are  banded  together  in  a federa- 
tion of  mutual  interest  to  obtain  from  the  conven- 
tion the  powers  that  will  permit  them  to  develop 
their  local  governments  and  their  local  opportuni- 
ties untrammeled  by  legislative  interference. 

These,  gentlemen  of  the  Committee  of  107,  are 
some  of  the  accomplishments,  some  of  the  under- 
takings and  some  of  the  problems  of  the  present 
city  administration.  For  them  we  bespeak  your 
earnest  consideration  and  in  our  efforts  to  conduct 
a businesslike  and  a forward  looking  government, 
we  ask  the  co-operation  of  the  entire  citizenship. 


29 


M.  B.  BROWN  PRINTING  & BINDING  CO. 
NEW  YORK 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3 0112114128413 


